Dead Man Walking
by Blue Jay Jellybean
Summary: They all had the same date. The Third of December, 2012. She had a different date, though it was only a few weeks longer. The day before her birthday. And I knew I had no power over the dates people had, but I was going to do everything I could for hers to not happen. For Thalia's date to be like mine: not there.v


Out of Character characters. Slight AU. Rick Riordan wrote Percy Jackson and the Lost Heroes. Rachel Ward wrote Num8ers. _Little Miss Thalia Grace_ let me adopt what she had of her story. Disney owns the Titan "Pyros" from Hercules, because I couldn't find any other fire Titans besides Prometheus. And it's my ultimate favorite Disney movie. :3

I'm also changing up some of the original Num8ers plot, because I'm not a total mooch.

* * *

I roll over in my bed, hiding my face in the goose pillow, trying to go back to sleep. So far, it wasn't working, and the little fingers of dawn were already creeping up on the East. Damn you, Apollo. Don't be on time for once. Nevertheless, dawn crept up slowly. Yeech, I sound poetic. I don't do poetry.

Now, you're probably wondering why I couldn't sleep, so let me tell you, it wasn't because of my sleeping arrangements: this bed was the comfiest thing I've ever slept on. I was worried, because of a special… "skill" I had recently acquired. Nobody knew about it, not even Chiron. They would fear me too much if they knew. Well, fear me more. It's not easy having Hades for a dad.

The name's Nico di Angelo, the only son of Hades (or Pluto, whatever). I'm nineteen years old, and have no family, minus dad (and the deceased mother, sister and half-sister), and he's not the "father figure" type at all. I suppose, to me, that'd be Percy.

_Percy._ The name sticks in my mind like a piece of paper on a field of glue. Percy died right before I came back to Camp Jupiter. I knew he would. I tried to get back to see him one last time, but I didn't make it. After the final battle with Gaea, he'd been poisoned, and by the time we realized, it was too late, and he slowly deteriorated. Annabeth died soon after, while helping some new Greek half-bloods over the border to Camp Half-Blood, in a style which could only be described as "Percy".

Anyway, enough with my depressing life story (because it gets more depressing as I go) and let's get back to the real story.

I was trying to go back to sleep and I nearly did too, until the sound of soft wailing startled me out of it. Oh yeah, did I mention that Percy and Annabeth left me as a godfather to their three-year-old daughter?

Finally accepting that I wouldn't get any sleep for the fourth time this week, I rolled out of bed and trudged over to the other side of the room, picking up little baby Alena.

She cooed happily at me, and I smiled thinly, accidentally looking her in the eye.

_05122110_

Fuck.

Quickly, I looked down, and closed my eyes, praying to any god listening to take my "gift" away. I didn't want to think about what would happen to Alena in a time where I would be long gone. She was practically my life now.

Putting her into clothing was sufficiently harder than most days, and when I finally laced up her little brown shoes, I was too exhausted to care if I went out in pajamas, so I exited the house and went off to breakfast. I almost made it too, until _she_ stopped me.

"Morning, Nico," she said, smiling happily at the baby I was holding in my arms. "You look like death," she commented, transferring Alena from my arms to hers.

"How fitting," I remarked dryly, not caring what the hell anyone said about me at this point.

"Is she giving you trouble sleeping, Death Breath?" she ignored my sarcastic jab, using the nickname she had given me all those years ago. I tried not to make eye contact, because I had so far been successful ever since my "gift" appeared. I could feel her stare burning into my skull.

"No, she's fine. Just… nightmares" I supplied, hoping it would be enough to get her off my tail. It wasn't.

"Nico, don't lie to me, you're my best friend. And look at me when I talk to you."

Crap. She asked me to look at her. I can't. But… it's Thalia. I'd do anything for her-

Too late, I realize that my body has acted on its own accord, and I'm now staring into her electric blue eyes. Her beautiful, electric blue eyes. Damn it.

_21122012_

Oh, hell. I look away as fast as I can, but like with Alena, it stays there, even when my eyes are shut, burned onto the insides of my eyelids.

Why am I scared of a glowing white-hot number? Besides the usual stuff called "creepy and unnatural"? Haven't you guessed by now? Let me introduce myself, then.

My name is Nico di Angelo. I'm the Son of Hades, the god of the Underworld. I'm Lord of the Dead. And I can see the date in which people are going to die.

She barely had a few months left. Why? I couldn't even begin to guess at why her life would be cut so short. She was the most beautiful, amazing person. She didn't deserve to die right after her release from the Hunters. She couldn't. I had to try and save her from her number.

Deep down inside, though, I knew that there would be no saving her.

* * *

"Nico, let's go in to San Francisco today. We can take Alena to the beach or something. Maybe go to Chinatown, get some food from the Washington Street Bakery?"

Damn her and how well she knew me. I couldn't pass that up. Besides, Alena loved the water, and had a power over it almost as good as Percy did.

"Alright. We can go. But I'm driving." I acquiesced.

Thalia bristled. "Just because I _almost_ crashed the sun car _once_-!"

"So you don't want to go?"

"Fine. But only if I get to drive back."

I shrugged in compliance. "Okay. That's fine." I forgot I had my gift, and looked into her eyes and smiled.

_21122012_

She wouldn't last until Christmas. And I had already bought her a present.

* * *

"Wudder! Wudder!" Alena shrieked happily, wriggling in Thalia's arms as we crossed the Bay Bridge. She slapped the window with her tiny hand, and waved at the ocean.

If there was any way to explain what happened next, it was this:

A wave lifted up into the air and formed a fist, then unfurled its fingers one by one and waved back. I smiled. She had such a pull on her.

"Alena, darling, you don't want the normal people to see your magic. Put the hand down, okay? We can make as many hands as we want at the beach, okay?"

Alena looked sadly out the window, and let the wave back down into its natural pace. "Okie."

"Why don't we play spot-the-colors?" Thalia suggested to Alena.

"Blue." Alena supplied.

Thalia sighed. She was Percy's daughter alright. She had the oddest obsession with blue, and had the shiny black hair that he did, and the bright grey all-knowing eyes of Annabeth. That didn't mean that the smarts were transferred, however- we'd have no idea until she started school, and both Thalia and I weren't very enthused by the idea.

"Pick a different color this time, sweetie. You always pick blue."

"_BLUE._"

Thalia closed her eyes in resignation. "Okay, okay. Blue. Um… the sky?" She smiled.

Alena shook her head excitedly. "It's really pretty, too."

"Okay, the water?"

Another shake of the head.

"I don't know, Allie. I give up!"

"Your eyes." I said without thinking. Then I realized what I just said and mentally smacked my head on the steering wheel.

Thalia looked at me in surprise. "What?"

I mumbled what I had just said, and Alena giggled happily, clapping her hands together. "Eyes! Yes!"

Thalia shifted uncomfortably and looked at the car window, studying her reflection. I could almost see what was going through her mind. Almost, but not quite. And then she looked at me.

_21122012_

Shit.

Close my eyes, get it out, fuck. Damn it. Damn it. DAMN. Get her number out of my he-

"NICO BRAKE!" Thalia screamed.

My eyes snapped open just in time to keep myself from colliding with the car in front of me. I swerved to the side, and then slammed my foot on the brake. We stopped in the side lane. I flipped the emergency lights on shakily.

We sat in the car for a few minutes, me trying to calm my nerves down before continuing anywhere else.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"You could have killed us, Nico!"

No, I wouldn't have. But she doesn't know that.

"I'm sorry, Thalia. I don't know what I was doing." I paused. I can't get distracted anymore, or it may very well be me who gets in a car crash on the twenty-first with the three of us, and only Alena and I walking out of the wreck.

Thalia sighed. She knew what it was like having to drive in a car with ADHD. "I'll drive the rest of the way. You can sit down and relax."

I just nod.

We swap seats and take off again. Now I'm holding Alena, we're playing patty cake.

"Paddy cakes, paddy cakes, Demeter's men. Make me a cake faster than you can…"

* * *

"Fifteen bucks for a ride on the trolley? That's so wrong! I can't believe that people actually _pay_ to ride this thing!" Thalia voiced loudly, startling the tourists in their Hawaiian-print shirts.

"Thals, we have enough money we can-"

_3122012_

Crap. What? That tourist right there, who looked like he might be from Texas was going to die today. I felt bad for him. I shook my head and the number floated up and away from my vision. I looked around at the other tourists who were now gawking loudly at Thalia, who was arguing with the ticket man.

_3122012_

_3122012_

_3122012_

_3122012_

What? All of them had the same date. Maybe I read it wrong. I looked once more.

_3122012_

_3122012_

_3122012_

_3122012_

Same date. Today's date. What was going to happen to all these people? I kept looking. I must be wrong. I HAD to be wrong. I checked Thalia's date again.

_21122012_

Still the same. They never changed. Something was going to happen today, right here and even though I knew Thalia and Alena were safe, I wanted them out of there as fast as possible. I didn't want them hurt.

"Thalia, we can walk, it's not that far." I said, touching her arm.

She yanked it away and slammed her fist down onto the counter and continued yelling at the ticket man.

"_Thalia!_" I hissed sharply, jerking her elbow.

She stopped yelling and looked at me. "What?"

"We can walk. Let's just get out of here. People are staring."

Thalia scowled. "Since when has that phased you, Death Breath?

"Come on, let's just _go_," I yanked on her arm again.

She finally acquiesced, and we walked quickly away from the trolley stop, and away from the Transamerica Pyramid which stood silhouetted against the sky.

Then, there was a low, but loud rumble, and we were blown off our feet by a shockwave that was almost immediately followed by a hot shower of burning building.

I ducked behind a dark green metal dumpster, covering Alena's little body with my own. Thalia was right next to me, and so I transferred Alena to her arms. "Run! Run down this alleyway, if it's monsters, I can hold them off! Keep Alena safe!"

I looked into Thalia's eyes, for what I felt (at that moment) might be the last time. I didn't know my number- it may as well be today.

And for the first time in my life, her number didn't register in my mind. Her tears did.

"Be careful, Nico." She said and crushed me into a hug, and kissed my cheek. Then she was gone.

I- What? Did she just kiss me on the cheek?!

I had to ignore that for now. Monsters (perpetually) were wreaking havoc on San Francisco. I unsheathed my Stygian sword from my belt loop and turned the corner, ready to summon up some dead people to fight for me.

And then my sword clattered to the floor, pinging like ice shattering against tile. Because the titan Pyros was rising up out of the on-fire Transamerica Pyramid.

* * *

So, how was it? It's my first story, so I'm not sure how I did. :)


End file.
